VAs: Why They Won’t Serve You in the Long-Term
MultiplyMii
Your Recruitment & HR partner finding the top 5% of talent in the Philippines.
What's the most efficient way to encourage creativity and increase productivity on your team? To DIY hire a virtual assistant (VA) or to employ a professional specialist – this has been a long unsettled point of disagreement in HR.
Who is a VA?
A virtual assistant is a self-employed, independent contractor that provides different services usually at a cost-saving rate to clients – entrepreneurs and businesses, while operating from a remote location, commonly from a home office.
The varying responsibilities of a VA include carrying out administrative duties, email and calls management, calendar management and travel arrangement, customer support, social media management, data entry, and bookkeeping, among other ad hoc office assistance tasks.
Weighing Your Options: General VAs vs Professional Talents
On the one hand, there are some who put forth reasons in favor of hiring a general VA – the jack of all trades. It’s a common notion that a VA delivers so much value at a lower cost. A VA has diverse experiences and the capacity to utilize this diverse range of skills to cover diverse range of tasks, and even potentially resolve a diverse range of difficulties.
On the other hand, some HR practitioners and even several studies argue that a true specialist has a deeper understanding of his area of specialization, knowing it in-and-out, back to front – entirely from the bigger picture to the tee in meticulous detail.
As opposed to hiring an individual with average know-how on multiple domains, working with a professional specialist can lead your business to more progressive innovations because a true specialist is tailored for only one thing.
When you place an expert in his element, they’re easily familiar with the subject matter. If a problem arises, they’ll have the knack for identifying and recognizing it, and they’ll know exactly which tool to grab and use that won't fail them.
The Potential Pitfalls: Why VAs Fall Short of Your Expectations and Needs
Yes, it may be true that VAs can help you free up a considerable amount of time as you focus on aspects of your business which are more crucial for its expansion.
However, some business owners, entrepreneurs, and executives tend to underestimate the complexity of their needs as they hire VAs. While what they require of a general VA might appear straightforward and even menial at face value, in actuality, it is not. That’s why they are not very strategic or rigorous in the hiring process, dismissing the role to be a simple one to fill in.
This lack of strategy ironically coupled with high expectations make them end up in disappointment as they find inadequate, if not entirely mediocre, work from their choice of VAs. After all, as the old adage goes, a jack of all trades is a master of none.
Costly Mistakes
Owing to the wide range of skills without the in-depth expertise in any of these, the average generalist VA may have the tendency or need to still rely on you on several occasions.
This lack of focused, specialized expertise may require you to spend more time and expenses for training your VA to perform on a more proficient level required of the role. There are instances when you may find yourself double-checking correspondences such as emails and publication for errors in grammar and accuracy of information. At times, VAs are incapable of delivering support outside of their most basic administrative tasks.
Ultimately, low rates for low-quality work defeat the purpose and value of hiring a VA in the first place.
A Subpar Temporary Solution
Short-term limited time of service is wasted time.
General VAs most likely provide services and assistance to several clients at once. By and large, you cannot expect them to be totally focused on their work for you.
Additionally, because VAs are independent contractors working on their terms, at their own pace, and following their own schedule, they tend to provide only transitory services and deliver output at the bare minimum. They present no guarantee or commitment to stick around to support your business needs in the long run.
Outdated Skill Set
Since VAs are not equipped with a specialized skill, their services may rather prove to not be valuable over the long term.
The absence of a specialization means failure to stay knowledgeable about relevant new techniques, strategies, and practices. In turn, a VA’s broad-spectrum of abilities can become stagnated and outdated.
Data Security Breach
When working with a virtual assistant, there arises the necessity to share delicate pieces of information so your VA can execute specific tasks.
The lack of a contract that is legally valid and binding, and a thorough background checking during the hiring process give you no assurance of the safety of your data. This risk of jeopardizing your information and the inability to protect your business from potential data infringement come with employing the services of a virtual assistant.
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What Hiring a True Specialist Means for Your Business
Empower your business by relying on the strengths which a professional talent is equipped with.
A master at a specific skill, a true professional specialist with a particular focus and expertise is a driving force for any institution, organization, or business.
Undertaking and Resolving High-Level Problems
A specialist has the capacity to offer advanced and sophisticated solutions to specific concerns and issues because of their level of expertise.
A professional talent who is proficient in their field of specialization understands its language from the inside and out. This enables them to perform challenging duties while making use of their specific skill set.
Smoother Fluidity of Work Processes
Together with a specialist’s unparalleled aptitude and skill come extensive experience and significant period of immersion in their field through which they profoundly and exhaustively practice the core competency.
Bringing this knowledge plus experience to the table, a professional talent tends to make minimal mistakes that are not damaging or disruptive to the business. They also find lesser difficulties winning over challenges and obstacles on the job.
A Major Boost for the Company Credibility
The values of reliability, responsibility, and exceptional know-how of your team of specialists are a representation of your business. These are a reflection of the vision, the mission, the development and rate of growth, and ultimately, the success of your company.
Hiring highly competent professional talents say so much about your branding and positioning. It brings in favorable judgment about your business from clients as well as from other prospective employees who aspire to be part of your company.
The Benefits of Specialists: From Development to Growth to Success
Since expert talents hold advanced competency and knowledge in their particular fields, this means allocating much less time and expenses for training on the role.
They are able to adapt more quickly to the work setting. Operating with excellent capacities, they can complete tasks and projects, simple or complex, just as fast. Your professional specialists can even assist with training other colleagues on the team when needed.
You can expect increased loyalty and employee retention rates, too, when you opt for true specialists over general VAs. Professionals with a focused, specialized skill set tend to stay longer with a company because they are in an environment where they get to practice their expertise and sharpen it at the same time.
They contribute higher level of productivity and higher quality of work to your business in the long-term.
Heightened productivity and efficiency saves you an exorbitant amount of expenses. Plus, it gives your company its merited extra value, securing success in the process.
Make the right choice for success. Change the way you hire with MultiplyMii.
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Unlike BPOs, we focus on the long-term success of both parties (client and employee). Our services only begin when a recruitment is done as we are creating a better work environment and making sure that we're giving everyone the best chance for success, by conducting educational seminars, helping with KPI setup, and check-in with your team members on a regular basis and more.
Leveraging our experience growing our own 200+ collective teams, we are the Filipino career & personal related subjects professionals in-and-out, and a living showcase of a successfully-scaled business that is “Driven by Filipino Talent”.